Texas struggling in clutch

Texas coach Mack Brown said penalties killed the Longhorns in Saturday’s loss to Oklahoma but he sees a problem with the bigger picture.

“We’re not where we need to be on third down and not where we need to be in the red zone,” he said on Monday’s Big 12 Conference call.

The Longhorns are 11th in the Big 12 in third-down conversions at .397 (31-of-78) and ninth in red zone offense with only 10 touchdowns (plus seven field goals) in 21 trips inside the 20.

He did see significant improvement in the offense which gained 208 yards in the second half but had only 13 points to show for it.

“We’ve got to play with that heart and passion and desire each week,” Brown said. “If we played that way against UCLA it could’ve been a different outcome. We’re not the type of team this year that can go out there and not play our best and win. We have to play our best.”

In other highlights from the Big 12 call:

* Despite beating Texas and improving to 5-0, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops agrees with critics that say these Sooners are no threat to the national title.

“At this point of the year we’re not,” he said. “Better teams continue to grow and get better through the year. It’s true we’ve played one of the tougher non-conference schedules. That was talked about quite a bit. We’re 5-0 going into the off week. In the end, we’re a work in progress.”

* Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman isn’t concerned that linebacker Von Miller doesn’t have a sack after leading the country last year with 17. A&M switched from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4 under new coordinator Tim DeRuyter, who moved over from Air Force.

“I told him this year he probably won’t have the same numbers he had last year,” Sherman said. “But he’s actually playing better than he did a year ago. So the sacks are a little bit of a misnomer as to how he’s playing. Part of it, people come into our games knowing where he is and what he’s doing and what he’s done so he’s getting constantly chipped and harassed by more than one person.

“If that’s the case then somebody else has to step up and make a play for us.”

* New Texas Tech coach Tommy Tuberville says his team’s confidence is low after the 52-38 drubbing at Iowa State.

“We keep starting slow,” he said. “Our last two games, against Texas we got behind 14 points and against Iowa State we got behind 24 points. We can catch up because we can throw the ball pretty well. It’s just a matter of getting that consistency going. We’re not playing very well defensively.

“We’ve got to build more confidence in our players. Right now our confidence is pretty low, obviously of people pressing and making plays. We’ve just got to relax and go out and make plays and have fun. I think we’re pressing too much early.”